Articles Posted inMurder

The rule of completeness is an important rule that can offer protection against the misuse of a recorded statement you make to the police in a Miami criminal case. However, this rule has its limits. In a recent Florida Supreme Court case, the Court considered the rule of completeness, as well as the evidence rule that permits impeachment of hearsay declarants.

At issue was whether section 90.108(1) (the rule of completeness) allows a defendant to require the government to put into evidence an entire video recording of his statement to the cops where the government questioned a detective about the defendant’s inculpatory statements without putting the recording into the record. Also at issue was whether the government could impeach a defendant under section 90.806(1), which permitted an attack on a hearsay declarant’s credibility.

The case arose when a 68-year-old retired man took a 27-year-old man home with him from the beach. When the victim didn’t arrive at his friend’s house for dinner as planned, the friend went to the victim’s house where he found the victim lying facedown inside. Witnesses told a detective they’d seen the victim eating with someone younger earlier that day. The medical examiner decided that the victim had the kinds of injuries that were consistent with being choked and decided it was likely that he’d been killed by force. Other evidence, including video surveillance footage from stores, showed that the defendant had used the victim’s credit card.

In a recent Florida appellate decision, the court considered a case in which a burglar hit an 80-year-old man in the head and badly beat him up such that he suffered a brain hemorrhage. The old man was released before the hemorrhage resolved, and he died in his home. The defendant was charged and convicted of first degree murder. He appealed on the grounds that the prosecution hadn’t proven that his own actions caused the death of the old man. If you have been charged with a homicide, it is important to have a knowledgeable Florida criminal defense attorney by your side throughout the process.

The case arose when the 80-year-old victim came home after a day shopping with his adult daughter. When he and his daughter got out of their car in their garage, the defendant attacked the old man. The victim collapsed and then the defendant sat on him and kept beating him up before running away.

At the hospital, the victim underwent a CT scan. The staff found there was no bleeding in the brain. He was discharged. After he was released from the hospital, his CT scan was reviewed again, with the doctor finding there was a little bit of bleeding. He came back to the hospital again the next day and underwent more scans. The doctor found the bleeding had resolved, but after being discharged, the victim collapsed on his bed at home and passed away.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported October 15 that a 24-year-old Miami Gardens man charged with first-degree murder in the killing of a Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) linebacker at a party has invoked Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law to argue that all criminal charges should be dismissed. A grand jury also indicted the alleged offender on two counts of attempted first-degree murder in the shootings of two other people at the party.

According to the News-Journal, the alleged offender’s attorney filed a motion that states the two other people were shot unintentionally while the alleged offender was defending himself from the football player. The motion claims the alleged offender is about 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 108 pounds while the linebacker was 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 235 pounds.

According to the motion, the alleged offender claims he was “minding his own business not bothering anyone” at the party when he was attacked and beaten by the football player and one of his friends who also played college football and was 6 feet 2 inches and weighed 225 pounds. While waiting for his ride in the parking lot, the alleged offender claims he was confronted and threatened again by the linebacker and at least two others. The motion states that the alleged offender “was forced to make use of the firearm to either save his life or prevent further infliction of serious bodily injury.”

Have you been charged with murder? Are you not sure what to do? In Florida, it is the unlawful killing of a human being. In Florida there are different degrees of Murder depending on how the crime is committed.

Premeditated Murder: To prove premeditated murder, the prosecution must show that the defendant prepared to commit the crime and had the intent to commit murder. Evidence must be shown that the defendant took steps to commit the murder and had a plan to commit murder.

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